perryinva@aol.com

Just did this today, 2002 Carrera, 62k miles. I have done a ton of preventative maintenance over the 12 years I’ve owned this car. Too much to list, but suffice to say, if it is a known issue, I’ve either had it or prevented it! (So far). A very reduced usage DD, since I’m retired. I do all my own wrenching, except when it came time to do the clutch/RMS/IMS bearing and I had them done preventatively at 50k miles. Turns out clutch & RMS had been done before I got the car at 28k miles, and the IMS bearing was still sealed and like new. Still had them all replaced. The plugs & coils were on my list, and had bought them maybe 5 years ago, but car continued to run great so I just kept postponing it. Recently had CEL with 2 misfires, so I figured maybe it was time. Since I had already removed the mufflers many years ago to do the Fister type mod, and at that time I had replaced virtually all the exhaust nuts & bolts with SS versions & lock washers, dropping them as recommended was effortless. Just as Loren says, three nuts on the bracket (13mm) and the two on the clamp to the muffler inlet (15mm) and it easily pulls out towards the front. No bumper removal or tip removal required. Add me to the camp of “why anyone would try this without removing them is beyond me”. I honestly do not know how it can be done with them in place. The passenger side is far harder, especially the rearmost as mentioned, especially uncoupling the connection from the coil and removing the rearmost allen bolt. I used the “long thin screwdriver blade to unclip the tab that holds it in place and push it off the coil” trick. On my car, it appears the plugs were also done before I bought it, as they were Bosch Super 4 prong types, they were 5’s. Every single plug was too lightly torqued in! It was effortless to unscrew them all. But every plug had no sooting and all the tubes were still shiny & clean. No cracked Beru coils, they all looked good. New coils were 997 types, and I decided to go with NGK Laser Platinum plugs as recommended. Had no trouble with removing/installing them with 3/8” drives a 3” extension, 6” extension and 2 universal swivels. I also recommend a long set of ball end metric allens as well as a tiny ratchet that takes a 5mm allen. Lowes has a Kobalt set for less than $20. Helps a lot. No trouble using my old Sears torque wrench on all of the plugs, 22ft-lbs. I did unclip the VarioCam Plus connectors for added clearance. I also spent some time cleaning some old oil grime from a previously weeping AOS (replaced at 45k) that got all over the VARIOCAM connectors on the drivers side, and cleaned the shields as well. My recommendation: first remove all the coils. Then remove the plugs, and install the new plug immediately after removal. Then install the coils from the rear, and completely install each one before heading to the next. On the rear most passenger side coil, which is VERY tight to couple the connector to the coil, just get it close to lined up with a screwdriver and then you can surprisingly easy push down on it from above, through the engine compartment! You can absolutely insure than satisfied click as the connection is made. Note that it is VERY easy to think you have it coupled fully but the tab will not have actually snapped over the small ramp lock. It would SUCK BIG TIME to find it worked loose and you have misfires and have to find which one is not making a good connection anymore. Use that long skinny screwdriver to lift the rubber boot up, and visually see the tab is locked. Took me 4 hours to do the passenger side and an hour for the drivers side, but the passenger side included getting the car up, wheels off, etc, and I have an EZCar Lift so makes the job a lot easier. At 62, it’s not easy working on my back as it used to be, and my hands are not as nimble as they used to be, either. I changed the oil & filter while the car was up, also. Use Driven DT-40 and a Mobil1 M1-107 spin on with spin on filter adapter from Raby, done the year I bought the car. Car naturally idles better, and a slight lag at initial pedal was eliminated, but otherwise sounds and drives the same.